Hitherto it has been proposed to provide a mobile telecommunications apparatus operable both as a handset with a mobile network and also as a receiver for broadcast video content. The apparatus includes a transceiver for communicating with a mobile telecommunications network such as a 2G, 2.5G or 3G network. The apparatus also includes a receiver to receive separately broadcast video content e.g. according to a DVB standard using MPEG signal formats. A plurality of digital broadcast channels may be broadcast concurrently so that the user can choose between them.
Hitherto, it has been proposed to include service guide information in the broadcast channels to permit a service guide of the content of the channels to be stored in the mobile apparatus. Typically, this service guide information comprises a textual description of broadcast content and the associated transmission times. It has also been proposed to provide current service guide information as text through the mobile telecommunications network, e.g. through a wireless application protocol (WAP) portal.
However, the mobile apparatus has a display screen of limited size due to its portability and providing the service guide information as text can provide only a limited insight into the content of the broadcast channels. Furthermore, when the service guide information is obtained through a WAP portal, the information retrieval process is time consuming and inconvenient.
The present invention seeks to overcome these problems and disadvantages.